Page 553 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 1990
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The Alliance Government recognises that law reform should be a consultative process; community views should be sought when reviewing or reforming the law. The purpose of law reform should be to improve the body of law in line with community concerns and government policy. A central objective of law reform processes should be to ensure that regulatory burdens placed upon business or other sectors of the community are kept to a minimum.
Therefore, a community law reform committee will be established to advise the Government on law reform issues as they affect the community. This committee will be modelled on the successful Criminal Law Consultative Committee; a committee that has, for several years now, been making an invaluable contribution to the development of ACT criminal law. I shall shortly be writing to the chairperson of that committee inviting discussion about its continuing role in the ACT.
I will be inviting representatives from local peak community and legal organisations and individuals with high legal standing in the community to participate on the community law reform committee. These people will have the capacity to contribute at a high level to the development of Territory law.
The committee will have an advisory role. It will identify areas that are in need of review or reform; it will anticipate emerging socio-legal issues; and, most importantly, it will assess the practical impact of various proposals and laws on the people of the ACT. A major overhaul of ACT law is required and this will take a number of years. This process will let us respond quickly to changing community circumstances. It may even result in the ACT being in a position to lead Australia on important issues. Certainly, that is my personal ambition.
For example, the ACT law of defamation - as elsewhere in Australia - does not meet basic community needs. The law reform process that I have outlined will enable us to examine and meet these needs. It will enable us to do some fresh thinking on the subject and to develop practical, socially responsible and original legislation. Such legislation may well be adopted by other States.
A complete re-examination of the court systems is under consideration. It is possible that the ACT will be the first Australian jurisdiction with a truly modern justice system and I will be addressing that issue shortly.
Landlord and tenancy law, in both residential and commercial settings, is another area in need of urgent reform and will be the subject of another major reform project. A law reform unit has been set up within the ACT Government Law Office to undertake some of this important work. It will also coordinate the law reform program. I hope that the Australian Law Reform Commission, which has already contributed to ACT law reform, will continue to do law reform work for us.
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